Palestinian Eurovision

Palestinian Eurovision is a corporation between: The Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), Sabreen Association for Artistic Development, and SUPERFLEX. In 2007, the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation applied to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for active membership and was thereby seeking participation in the 2008 Eurovision song contest. The motivation behind the application is a wish to contribute to the Eurovision tradition of creating positive cultural experience and to build a media infrastructure in Palestine. Already, the EBU area includes 56 nations, among those the western part of the USSR, the northern part of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan and Israel. SUPERFLEX has worked as consultant to Palestinian Eurovision since 2008. After a large quantity of legal work, numerous meetings and high level negotiations, the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation still has not achieved active membership of the European Broadcasting Union.

The Olsen Brothers, former winner of the Eurovision, endorsement to the Palestinian Eurovision:

Eurovision

Eurovision is the story of a continent that overcame its history by uniting across nations. Now Palestine wishes to contribute to this idea, to present the world with a message of culture, openness and the desire to be part of a global cultural heritage, by applying to join the Eurovision in 2008.

The idea of the Eurovision is to create unity through the celebration of cultural diversity. Palestinian contribution embraces this basic idea and can re-vitalize the true spirit of Eurovision and provide it with a chance to show new ways towards world unity. Civil institutions, public service and media broadcasting have a key role to play in rebuilding society. This project aims at building capacity and infrastructure of such institutions. That is why “Palestinian Eurovision” will be a valuable step for Palestinian society as a whole.

Facts:

• PBC is an approved participant of EBU.

• PBC has applied to EBU for active membership.

• Preparation for local contest starts late summer 2007.

• Local contest will be open to all Palestinians in the world.

• First phase of the project is supported by the Danish Representative Office in Ramallah.

PBC:

Is the national public service station of the Palestinian people. It has a Radio station know as the “Voice of Palestine” and a satellite channel. It has studios in Ramallah and Gaza. PBC will provide technical and human resources for the Eurovision project and will be responsible for broadcasting the events. About Sabreen: Started as a musical group in 1980 in Jerusalem and developed into Sabreen Association for Artistic development in 1987 as a non-profit community based organization that specializes primarily in music and combining it with different artistic expressions and forms.

Sabreen functions in the following main streams:

• Production

• Competence building

• Technical support Sabreen is the administrative and artistic coordinator and supervisor of the Palestinian Eurovision project.